When conducting a telecommunications audit for a business, one of the first things to be removed for cost savings are the Inside Wire Maintenance features (sometimes called Linebacker) from your business lines. The probability of a break occurring within a building wall is very low (on average, once every 14 years). The cost of paying a technician to service a break, if it were not covered by your equipment vendor’s maintenance contract, would be less expensive than paying a monthly maintenance fee indefinitely.

Many companies have already removed these features as the lack of value on these plans has been quite public. There have been lawsuits settled as a result of false information as to what is covered with these plans to the end user. So we’ve seen less and less of these features over time. However, we still see them too often, especially when order processes aren’t standardized internally, or you have employees expensing their home office locations. Often, there can be a lack of knowledge when ordering, and the phone company will always promote that feature.